For our last 2 weeks in India, we wanted to explore places that would give us more of a taste of the 'real' India, hardcore and challenging. However, because of monsoon season, we were restricted in where we could go and how we could manage the travel.
We started with 3 days in Delhi, mainly spent exploring the markets and shopping.
We then spent the next 2 weeks touring Rishikesh, Agra and Rajasthan. Against our natural travelling instincts, we hired a jeep and driver, the brilliant Sudhakar, for the whole period, much more expensive but much easier given the crazy heat and likely monsoon conditions. It also meant we could spread the net wider and see more places, as relying on Indian public transport can be a painful and time-consuming exercise.
So we headed off for the last leg of our Indian adventure and it didn't disappoint.
Haridwar
We headed north towards Rishikesh, stopping off for the afternoon in Haridwar. This is the holy city on the banks of the Ganges and we were lucky enough to be here during the holy pilgrimage of Kanwar Mela, when millions of Hindu pilgrims walk hundreds of kilometers from all over India in order to collect sacred water from the Ganges and then return home. This was a quite astonishing experience, colour, people, noise - everything one associates with India. More than just seeing this in Haridwar, we actually saw pilgrims returning home throughout our 2 week road trip, even as far south as Udaipur, which is around 500km south, meaning these people had walked for over 15 days, carrying the water! The carry the water in bottles, pots, strapped to their chests, on bamboo poles over their shoulders, in simple pots or in hugely ornamental designs made for the occasion.
Truly amazing to see.
Rishikesh
We continued on to Rishikesh for a couple of nights.
The kids swam in the Ganges.
We took part in the Puja ceremony on the banks of the Ganges.
We visited The Beatles Ashram, where the Fab 4 wrote The White Album.
We ate ice cream at The Beatles Cafe.
To quote Mili, "I almost cried about 5 times when I realised I was in the place where The Beatles wrote The White Album."
Well, just cry, baby, cry.
A proud moment as a father!
Agra
We left Rishikesh and drove around 9 hours to Agra for what we anticipated would be one of the highlights of our Indian adventure.
The Taj Mahal.
Agra itself is a bit of a dump, the only reason to visit is to see the Taj Mahal.
Often, these super-hyped tourist attractions can underwhelm but The Taj didn't disappoint. This was Shoshi's third visit but for the rest of us, it was our first time and it really was something special.
Beautiful, hypnotic, spellbinding.
The most beautiful building I have ever seen? Most probably.
The most photos I have ever taken in a day? Definitely.
Jaipur
From Agra, we headed to Rajasthan and the city of Jaipur, home to just over 3m people. By Indian standards, not huge, by any other standards, this is a sprawling, bubbling,, noisy city - typical India.
One Day 1, we visited the Monkey Temple and The Amer Fort, which houses the beautiful Shish Mahal (Glass Palace). How my Dad would have loved it, not least as his favourite Indian restaurant in Glasgow was the legendary Shish Mahal. We also saw real life snake charmers, a thought it was a movie cliche but they really do exist and the snakes really were charmed, along with our kids!
One Day 2, we hit The Jantar Mantar Observatory, a UNESCO listed collection of 300 year old sun-dials and astronomical instruments. We climbed the beautiful Wind Palace and then caught a Hindi movie at the famous Raj Mandir Cinema (surprisingly, without understanding a word for 2.5 hours, it was amazingly easy to follow the plot of a great movie, 'Super 30'). We ended our Jaipur stop by meeting up with one of Shoshi's old friends who she hadn't seen for 10 years, but who happened to be starting her own family travel adventure in Jaipur.
Udaipur
What a brilliant place.
Venice of the East, apparently.
Less touristy.
Dirtier
But it has a charm all of its own that we really loved.
We spent some time at Animal Aid, helping with the abandoned cows, dogs, buffalo and sheep. The kids loved it. I think we might all become vegetarian, joining Mili on her new found path.
We did some sightseeing, the usual mix of Indian temples and markets, with the local cable-car thrown in for good measure.
But perhaps the highlight of our time in Udaipur was visiting a hotel where Shoshi had stayed over 20 years ago. Beautiful hotel, amazing rooftop views, great memories for Shoshi, the first beer in India after 2 months for me.
We started with 3 days in Delhi, mainly spent exploring the markets and shopping.
We then spent the next 2 weeks touring Rishikesh, Agra and Rajasthan. Against our natural travelling instincts, we hired a jeep and driver, the brilliant Sudhakar, for the whole period, much more expensive but much easier given the crazy heat and likely monsoon conditions. It also meant we could spread the net wider and see more places, as relying on Indian public transport can be a painful and time-consuming exercise.
So we headed off for the last leg of our Indian adventure and it didn't disappoint.
Haridwar
We headed north towards Rishikesh, stopping off for the afternoon in Haridwar. This is the holy city on the banks of the Ganges and we were lucky enough to be here during the holy pilgrimage of Kanwar Mela, when millions of Hindu pilgrims walk hundreds of kilometers from all over India in order to collect sacred water from the Ganges and then return home. This was a quite astonishing experience, colour, people, noise - everything one associates with India. More than just seeing this in Haridwar, we actually saw pilgrims returning home throughout our 2 week road trip, even as far south as Udaipur, which is around 500km south, meaning these people had walked for over 15 days, carrying the water! The carry the water in bottles, pots, strapped to their chests, on bamboo poles over their shoulders, in simple pots or in hugely ornamental designs made for the occasion.
Truly amazing to see.
Rishikesh
We continued on to Rishikesh for a couple of nights.
The kids swam in the Ganges.
We took part in the Puja ceremony on the banks of the Ganges.
We visited The Beatles Ashram, where the Fab 4 wrote The White Album.
We ate ice cream at The Beatles Cafe.
To quote Mili, "I almost cried about 5 times when I realised I was in the place where The Beatles wrote The White Album."
Well, just cry, baby, cry.
A proud moment as a father!
Agra
We left Rishikesh and drove around 9 hours to Agra for what we anticipated would be one of the highlights of our Indian adventure.
The Taj Mahal.
Agra itself is a bit of a dump, the only reason to visit is to see the Taj Mahal.
Often, these super-hyped tourist attractions can underwhelm but The Taj didn't disappoint. This was Shoshi's third visit but for the rest of us, it was our first time and it really was something special.
Beautiful, hypnotic, spellbinding.
The most beautiful building I have ever seen? Most probably.
The most photos I have ever taken in a day? Definitely.
Jaipur
From Agra, we headed to Rajasthan and the city of Jaipur, home to just over 3m people. By Indian standards, not huge, by any other standards, this is a sprawling, bubbling,, noisy city - typical India.
One Day 1, we visited the Monkey Temple and The Amer Fort, which houses the beautiful Shish Mahal (Glass Palace). How my Dad would have loved it, not least as his favourite Indian restaurant in Glasgow was the legendary Shish Mahal. We also saw real life snake charmers, a thought it was a movie cliche but they really do exist and the snakes really were charmed, along with our kids!
One Day 2, we hit The Jantar Mantar Observatory, a UNESCO listed collection of 300 year old sun-dials and astronomical instruments. We climbed the beautiful Wind Palace and then caught a Hindi movie at the famous Raj Mandir Cinema (surprisingly, without understanding a word for 2.5 hours, it was amazingly easy to follow the plot of a great movie, 'Super 30'). We ended our Jaipur stop by meeting up with one of Shoshi's old friends who she hadn't seen for 10 years, but who happened to be starting her own family travel adventure in Jaipur.
Udaipur
What a brilliant place.
Venice of the East, apparently.
Less touristy.
Dirtier
But it has a charm all of its own that we really loved.
We spent some time at Animal Aid, helping with the abandoned cows, dogs, buffalo and sheep. The kids loved it. I think we might all become vegetarian, joining Mili on her new found path.
We did some sightseeing, the usual mix of Indian temples and markets, with the local cable-car thrown in for good measure.
But perhaps the highlight of our time in Udaipur was visiting a hotel where Shoshi had stayed over 20 years ago. Beautiful hotel, amazing rooftop views, great memories for Shoshi, the first beer in India after 2 months for me.
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| Shoshi reliving memories |
Pushkar
The final 2 days of our road trip and of India as a whole was spent in Pushkar, the small but certainly not quiet town that is so popular with Israelis. As it isn't peak season, there were no Israelis around, except for Shoshi's friend Zohar and her family who had come down from Jaipur. So we spent most of our time with them, temples, eating, swimming and dodging the monsoon.
A relaxing time with which to end a brilliant 2 weeks of discovery and ultimately 2 months of an intense Indian adventure.
